


The Diagnosis

by All_I_Want_Is_You



Series: My boys deserve a family [5]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: carlos has adhd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_I_Want_Is_You/pseuds/All_I_Want_Is_You
Summary: When Carlos starts having a hard time with school, he tries to hide it from his family. However, he doesn't take into account older brothers who happen to be ghosts.
Series: My boys deserve a family [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2179323
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	The Diagnosis

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @jadencross for editing this!
> 
> I don't own anything!

Carlos groaned, erasing the answers he put on his math worksheet. He had just checked his work and he had gotten more than half of them wrong. Carlos didn’t know what was going on with him; he usually understood the work when the teacher assigned it, but lately, he’s been struggling in class.

It wasn’t just math, either. Carlos was having trouble with English, science, social studies, all of it. He tried in school, really, he did, but he was having trouble focusing and paying attention. If he wasn’t fidgeting with his hands, his feet were tapping. If he was miraculously still, his mind wandered and he lost entire chunks of time.

It was a fairly new issue and Carlos thought that he could work through it. Clearly he just had to work a little harder and spend a little more time on things. He didn't need to say anything to his family. He knew that they had their own issues. There was no reason to worry about something as insignificant as Carlos having a little bit of trouble focusing. In the grand scheme thing of things, it wouldn’t kill Carlos to work a little more at school, anyway. 

His teachers had warned him that they would have to call his dad if he didn’t get his grades back up. That was the last thing Carlos wanted. Between learning about the band’s history and getting Julie back into the music program and getting her to gigs, Carlos barely had time for baseball. More and more often, Tía was the one who picked him up. Carlos was old enough to understand. He knew that he now had to share his dad with 3 ghosts (and honestly, how cool was that?!) and that it didn’t mean his dad loved him any less.

Carlos started having to stay up later and later to get through all his work. Soon, it was a regular occurrence for him to stay up until midnight or 1 AM. The result of that was that it was becoming even harder for Carlos to focus in school because he was so tired all the time, which led to him having to stay up later to finish his work, which led to him being tired at school. It was a vicious cycle that Carlos didn’t know how to break.

It wasn’t until Carlos was locked in his room crying that he finally got some help. 

It was almost midnight on Tuesday when Carlos heard a knock on his bedroom door. He sniffled in answer, using his sleeves to try and dry his face, only for more tears to spill over.

There was another, more insistent, knock at the door. Carlos just started sobbing louder. There was a beat of silence before Reggie’s voice came from the door. 

“Carlos? What are you still doing up? Is everything okay? Obviously not, you’re crying and you wouldn’t be crying at midnight if everything was fine,” Reggie rambled. Carlos looked up and saw Reggie’s head and upper body going through his door, the rest of him clearly outside his room.

Reggie walked the rest of the way into Carlos’s room and sat down next to the crying boy. He didn’t do anything, knowing that sometimes touch could be overwhelming, but he sat close enough that Carlos could reach out easily and make contact.

Carlos did exactly that and leaned into Reggie’s shoulder. Even though he was a ghost, he still radiated heat, somehow. For a while, the two sat in silence. Carlos was slowly calming down and becoming more tired and Reggie sat there, not really thinking of anything, just content to sit next to his little brother.

Some time later, Reggie felt Carlos sink more into his embrace and, when he looked down, saw that the young boy had fallen asleep sitting there. Reggie shifted Carlos so he was leaning more on the wall than him and stood up. He bent down and picked up the sleeping boy and placed him in his bed. He walked around the room and wandered past Carlos’s desk. Sitting on top, he saw the math test that sparked Carlos’s emotions. Right on front was the score, 62%, and a note from his teacher: Please have your father sign this test and return it by Friday.

Reggie was confused. He knew that Carlos was smart. All of the Molinas were. And he was clearly upset about what happened, so he must have been motivated to do well. Reggie looked through the pile of math papers that were under the test. The most recent ones had erase marks over erase marks, making the actual answers hard to read, but he could tell that most of them were wrong. After shuffling through all the papers sitting there, Reggie could tell that was the trend with most of the papers.

Reggie didn’t know what to do, so he decided that he would let Carlos tell Ray in his own time, and would just keep an eye on him for the time being.

Days passed and Reggie kept his silent promise of watching over Carlos. What he saw worried him. 

Carlos would spend hours alone up in his room, working on his homework, erasing most of it, working some more, and then crying. It was something that started to seem vaguely familiar but Reggie couldn’t place it quite yet.

He knew that Carlos distracted his dad before offering up the test for him to sign. He was very sneaky about it, hiding it in a mountain of other things that needed his signature and covered the bright red score at the very top so that it blended in with the rest of the papers. While he didn’t approve of the sneakiness, he had to admire Carlos for the planning that went into it.

Reggie was getting really worried at this point. No matter what he did, Carlos was struggling. Reggie could see that he wasn’t going to talk to Ray at this point, and he didn’t want to overstep his bounds, but he knew that Carlos needed help.

Reggie knew how easy it was to spiral into bad grades and disruptive behavior in school… That was it! Carlos was acting like Reggie and Luke before they got diagnosed with ADHD in early middle school!

Reggie didn’t want to say anything to Ray before doing some research of his own. What he found confirmed his thoughts. The trouble concentrating, the constant erasing his work, his handwriting that kept getting worse somehow. 

Reggie knew he had to help somehow. He went to Ray. He would know what to do.

“Hey, Ray? There’s something I want to talk to you about. But I don't want you to get mad, okay?” Reggie started nervously.

Ray looked at Reggie. It had been a while since Reggie was worried about Ray reacting badly to something.

“Reggie, you know that it’ll be okay. Even if it’s something I don’t necessarily want to hear, we can sit down to talk about it. No yelling; I promise,” Ray said.

Reggie took a deep breath and started talking, “Did you know that I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was in 7th grade?”

Ray was taken aback at the non sequitur, “I didn’t know that. Thank you for telling me. Is that what you thought I was going to react badly about? It’s okay. I know that it’s not something you can help. Is there anything I can do to help? Do ghosts even still technically have ADHD?”

Reggie gave a little chuckle. He should have known that Ray would be nothing but accepting.

“I appreciate that, Ray. And honestly, I’m not sure if it affects ghosts. But that isn’t why I’m telling you this,” Reggie started. “It actually has to do something with Carlos.”

Reggie could see that he immediately had Ray’s entire focus, “Is something going on with Carlos?”

“You see, about a week ago, I found him crying at midnight in his room. He had a test on his desk with a failing grade on it and a note that he had to get it signed by you or the teacher would call. I’ve been watching him ever since. He’s been having a hard time focusing on his work, making more mistakes than he used to. His handwriting has gotten worse. He’s been staying up late to try and finish his work, but that makes him more tired at school and that makes it even harder for him to focus on his work. I didn’t want to worry you if it was nothing, so I looked some stuff up online and it kinda fits with what I was going through when I got diagnosed and I just wanted to make sure that Carlos got the help he needed, even if he didn’t think it was worth saying anything about,” Reggie cut off his rambling when he was attacked with a hug from Ray.

“Thank you. Thank you for looking out for my son. I know you must not have wanted to say anything, but I appreciate you going outside your comfort zone to help him,” Ray said in Reggie’s ear as they hugged. Reggie teared up, thanking everything he could think of that he ended up with such a great family.

Reggie wiped away the tears as he stepped back from Ray. As much as he appreciated the comfort, this wasn’t the time to focus on him. It was time for Carlos to get the attention he needed.

“I’ll talk to Carlos tomorrow. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention, mijo,” Ray assured Reggie.

Reggie slumped in relief. He did his job as a big brother. He didn’t want to do anything wrong.

*Later the next day*

“Carlos! Can you come down, please?” Ray called up the stairs. He took what Reggie told him and did his own research after calling the school. Apparently, he had been signing off on Carlos’s poor tests for over a week. He also looked up ADHD online and read through some of the first hand stories and some ways he could support his son, if that’s what this was.

Carlos came clomping down the stairs, ready for a break from his work, even if it was to talk to his dad.

“What’s up, Papí?” Carlos was asking as he entered the living room. He stopped just inside the door frame when he saw what his dad had laid out on the table in front of him - copies of all his work.

Carlos looks spooked, “I can explain…” he trailed off at the end. He knew there was no real explanation for his work. “I’m sorry. There’s no excuse. I’ll be better.”

“Mijo, no. I mean, do I wish you had come to me with this? Of course. But I know you are trying your best. You always do your absolute best. I admire you for wanting to try to handle this on your own and figure it out. But baby, were you scared to come to me?” Ray asked.

“No. Not really. I know you wouldn’t be angry. I just didn’t want you to be disappointed in me. I’ve been trying so hard, Papí! And nothing I do seems to be enough. I just don’t know what to do,” Carlos felt tears forming in his eyes.

Ray pulled Carlos into his arms and just hugged him tight. 

“We will get this figured out, Mijo. I promise. I don’t want you to be mad, but Reggie told me what happened when he found you a week ago in your room. I looked up what he told me online, and I think I have some ideas on how to help. In the meantime, I want to set up a doctor’s appointment to see if we can get this officially figured out. If we do that, we can talk to your school and see about getting you some help there, too”.

Carlos looked at his father. Never before had he felt so lucky. He knew his dad was awesome. He knew it when he was so supportive after his mom had died. He knew it when he started looking at schools for Julie all the way in Australia after she had gotten kicked out of the music program at Los Feliz (don’t worry, it was only for, like, a day). He knew it when they learned more about his new ghost brothers and how they lived while they were alive and how his dad just accepted them and brought them into the family and showed them the same amount of love and attention he showed his living kids. 

So, yeah. Carlos knew he was darn lucky with the dad he ended up with.

Ray told Carlos to take the rest of the day and evening off from homework, (“Honestly, kid, with how hard you’ve been working, it won’t kill you to take a night off”) and they spent the rest of the evening together, just hanging out. It had been a while since the two of them had done something like that and Ray realized that he needed to spend more time with just Carlos. He didn’t want him to feel left behind with Julie and the boys suddenly blowing up and doing things together.

*A Couple Days Later*

“Well, Mr. Molina. There are still some tests that we can do, but I feel fairly confident in saying that Carlos has ADHD, which is what is causing his academic struggles,” the doctor was saying.

Ray looked over at Carlos. His head was down and his shoulders slumped dejectedly. Clearly, Carlos wasn’t happy with this news, but surprisingly, Ray was. This meant that he could do something. There was nothing wrong with Carlos. He was going to have a long healthy life, and this was just a literal minor hiccup.

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll take some of those information pamphlets, if you don’t mind,” Ray shook the doctor’s hand, got the papers, and led Carlos out the door.

When they got to the car, Carlos turned to face Ray, looking stricken, “I’m so sorry, Dad! I don’t know what I did wrong, but I promise, I’ll work on it!”

Ray just shook his head, “Mijo, I couldn’t care less. I see how hard you try. The last thing I want is for you to burn yourself out trying to be what you think I want. I just want you healthy and doing the best that you can. But this means that all we need to do is figure out what works best for you. Have I… Mijo, have I been putting this pressure on you?” Ray was worried that he was doing something to make Carlos think that he was anything other than absurdly proud of him.

Carlos roughly shook his head, “No. But I see how worried you are sometimes about the band and Julie and I know you miss Mom. I just didn’t want you to have to be worried about me too, you know?”

Ray’s heart broke. “Carlos Molina, you listen to me. There is nothing - NOTHING - on this green Earth that I care about more than you. I care about you JUST AS MUCH as I care about the boys and Julie. Not less, not more. Just because I have others in my heart to take care of doesn’t mean you get pushed to the bottom. It means my heart grows. Just like the Grinch.” Ray added that last bit to try and get a smile out of Carlos by mentioning his favorite Christmas movie.

It worked. Carlos gave a small smile before leaning in for another hug from his dad. He should have known that nothing would change his dad’s love for him.

When they got home, Ray sent Carlos up to his room to work on some homework. “No more than an hour, you hear me? Then you take a break” Carlos grinned and hurried upstairs.

Ray sat down on the couch and leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment. He took a deep breath and opened them and then screamed, “Gah!”

Reggie and Luke were sitting on either side of him on the couch, just watching him.

“Hey, Ray,” Reggie said cheerfully. 

Ray shot Reggie a look before asking, “Can I help either of you?” 

Luke and Reggie glanced at each other and then back at Ray. Luke decided it was his turn to talk now, “We know you had a doctor’s appointment for Carlos today. We wanted to see how it went.”

Ray nodded, remembering what Reggie had said. He had been diagnosed with ADHD as a kid. That explained his investment in the outcome of the doctor’s appointment, but not Luke’s.

Luke seemed to pick up on what was not being said, “I also have ADHD. I was actually diagnosed before Reggie. It was kind of obvious, seeing as I literally couldn’t sit still for more than a couple minutes at a time.” There was a self-deprecating chuckle that accompanied these words. 

“We thought that it might be helpful, if you want, you can bounce some ideas off us, or we can suggest things that worked for us. If you’d like, I can talk to Carlos and explain my experiences,” Luke said. Reggie nodded his head in agreement. 

Ray couldn’t believe the heart these kids had. He responded, “I would really appreciate it if you guys could talk to Carlos. He seems to be struggling with this. Maybe hearing about it from you guys will help?”

“Of course,” both boys said at the same time. 

Reggie asked if he could go talk to Carlos first.

“Of course, I’m not sure how much homework is getting done anyway,” Ray answered.

Luke decided to stay downstairs and talk with Ray about strategies, “Not everything will work for him, it’s a super individual condition, but these are things that helped me. Also, even if one thing works for one thing or at one time doesn’t mean it’s always going to work.” Ray rested his hand on Luke’s shoulder.

“Anything you can tell me would be helpful. I’m not expecting this to be easy. I’m expecting this to be a family effort,” Ray said. Luke nodded, still getting used to a parent who listened before jumping to conclusions.

Upstairs, Reggie watched Carlos do some homework before saying anything.

“Hey, can I come in?” At Carlos’s nod, Reggie pushed himself off the doorframe and wandered deeper into the room.

“Did dad send you?” Carlos asked.

“In a way. He knows that we have similar experiences here. Luke and I both have ADHD. He wanted us to let you know that this isn’t a death sentence or a drop-out-of-school sentence. I mean, Luke did drop out, but it was for different reasons. He stayed downstairs to go over some strategies that worked for us with your dad. Just think, unlike most kids who get diagnosed with this, you have two brothers already who have gone through it and can help,” Reggie said.

“Oh. Cool,” Carlos murmured. He knew that he was being dramatic, but he didn’t care. This totally sucked. Now everyone at school was going to know he had issues.

“Dude. Stop. It’s going to be fine. All the teacher is gonna have to do is, like, give you some extra time to do stuff, or give you breaks to go take a walk or get a drink of water. Things that other kids don’t need to know about. It’s not like you are going to have someone follow you around, or anything.” 

Reggie knew that kids could be cruel. He also knew that Carlos wasn’t one who typically worried about what other kids thought of him. But he was also getting older and noticing differences between himself and his classmates.

Carlos took a deep breath. Reggie was right, he decided. This wasn’t going to be an issue unless he allowed it to be. He knew he could talk to anyone in the house. They would all listen and give advice. He had six of the most supportive people around him: his dad, tía, Julie, Luke, Reggie, and Alex. With them by his side, he was the strongest kid he knew.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a kudos and a comment!


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